Announcing the Impact8 Work & Learning cohort

Impact8 is a social venture accelerator and investment readiness program now in its third year of delivery. Our two previous cohorts have enjoyed great success refining their models for social impact and scalability, and accessing capital to grow their ventures. Impact8 graduates have successfully raised almost $1 million in financing directly through Impact8 and related MCII activities, including the SVX, as well as through pitch events such as ImpactOntario and the Social Finance Forum.

The spring 2015 program is a partnership between the MCII and the MaRS Education Technology (edtech) Cluster. The edtech cluster brings invaluable sector-based expertise to the program, which is targeted to ventures that are working in education and employment, and that are delivering outcomes related to access and inclusion, workforce planning, youth employment, system transformation, and curriculum and content enhancement.

The Impact8 program blends the lean startup movement with expertise in impact investment and emerging trends in edtech. After eight rigorous weeks of mentorship, peer learning, workshops and networking, the program will culminate in a Demo Day pitch session for accredited investors and industry stakeholders, hosted at TMX.

Introducing Cohort 3: Work & Learning

We are excited to announce that this cohort consists of education and employment ventures from across Canada, including from Vancouver, Winnipeg and Moncton! Without further ado, let’s meet the third Impact8 cohort.

Agora Mobile’s Vizwik is a social learning platform that enables users to create, test, share and sell cross-platform apps (for Android, Apple, BlackBerry and Windows) using a visual coding and development tool. It broadens accessibility to app creation for users who do not have coding experience, whether they are students or companies. Location: Moncton, NB. Twitter:@agoramobile

Cube for Teachers is an interactive database and professional learning network created for kindergarten to Grade 12 educators. Its goal is to simplify how teaching resources are shared, stored and accessed, enabling greater efficiency and better learning outcomes. Location: Toronto. Twitter:@cubeforteachers

Forward Vision Games develops cloud-based games that improve financial literacy and decision-making skills among Canadian high school and postsecondary students, with a particular focus on First Nations students, content and communities. Location: Toronto. Twitter:@FVGamesPres

HigherEdPoints allows loyalty points from programs like Aeroplan to be donated or redeemed for tuition at postsecondary education institutions and/or to be put toward student loan payments in Canada. Location: Toronto. Twitter:@HigherEdPoints

Kids Great Minds delivers learning programs to inspire and educate kids about digital technology. Courses are designed to introduce new concepts and develop core competencies in many of today’s cutting-edge technologies, including computer animation, programming, 3D printing, blog design and video game development. Location: Toronto. Twitter:@KidsGreatMinds

Riipen is an online platform that connects students with companies through short-term, skill-specific projects and paid work opportunities. The platform allows students to demonstrate their skills and value, and employers to find talent from a qualified pool of candidates. Location: Vancouver. Twitter:@Riipen

Textbooks for Change provides affordable and accessible textbooks for domestic and international students. Postsecondary textbooks are collected and donated to university libraries in East Africa, or are priced affordably and sold online. Over 50% of the proceeds are then used to provide microloans around the world. Location: Toronto. Twitter:@Textbooks4C